Did ‘The Chair Company’ Finale Really Take a Swerve into the Supernatural?

Well, now we know why HBO renewed The Chair Company for a second season. As last night’s finale proved, the absurd mystery of the broken chair isn’t close to being resolved. Unless, of course, you buy the explanation that Ron’s colleague and former high school classmate Amanda — whose undies Ron saw during his fateful tumble — is behind it all with her (checks notes) mind powers? Did The Chair Company really take a swerve into the supernatural, or is that just the latest red herring meant to distract Ron (and the rest of us) from the truth?

Wait, Telekinesis? Really?

Who knows! That’s what Amanda’s plastic surgery-addicted boyfriend claims when he finally reveals himself to Ron, in the gym of Ron’s high school. The boyfriend, who has been tormenting Ron all season from behind a Jason Voorhees mask, claims that Amanda still holds a grudge because one time, back in school, Ron accidentally spat a gummy bear down her cleavage. Also, she can move things with her mind… and if she’s upset enough, she can even break them.

Now, the idea of someone holding on to resentment over a past slight would sort of be the perfect solution to the mystery. Ron’s whole journey began with an embarrassment he couldn’t shake, and it drove him into a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. What if his embarrassment was caused by someone he himself had embarrassed? Grudges breeding grudges, y’all. I could even buy the idea that the mystery Ron seems to have stumbled into — Tecca, the various holding companies, embezzlement — might both be real and unconnected to Ron. In his obsession, Ron connected all the right dots for the wrong reasons. That, too, would make a certain kind of sense for his character.

There’s even that random vision he has of the dog owner’s face transforming into something demonic. Sure, it’s probably just because Ron bumped his head, but… what if there’s something more paranormal afoot?

What’s the dog got to do with it?

Nothing! Probably! Baby, or should we call her Minnie Mouse, was just another strange detour in a show full of them. On the surface, it was a chance to show how Ron is desperate to do the right thing, only to find out he may have done the worst thing possible. After the owner posted a photo of Ron with the dog, calling him a hero for returning her home, the post was flooded with comments hinting that the dog was being abused. The whole demon-face thing was probably just a surreal bit of foreshadowing that the owner wasn’t a good guy, and nothing more.

Likewise, I don’t think Amanda really has anything to do with it either. She may be obsessed with Ron because of how little he seems to care about her, and maybe her boyfriend is jealous of that, but I expect the “Amanda broke the chair with her mind” thing to be discarded quickly next season, just like so many of the leads in this show.

So the conspiracy is real?

Who knows! Last week, Ron thought that Alice Quintana was behind it all. She took the fake executive photos for the Tecca website, and as the assistant purchasing director for the city, she could be buying Tecca chairs in order to funnel money to herself. Money that she’s now investing in Barb’s breast pump start-up. But then Ron realized that his boss, Jeff (Lou Diamond Phillips), had written the song that was used as the Red Ball phone line jingle, and that led him to break into Jeff’s office, where he found proof that Jeff is part-owner of Tecca and the other shell companies.

What Ron did not figure out, but what we know thanks to the cold open, is that one of the other owners - a man named Stacy Crystals - was recently murdered by a child with a 3D printed pistol. The kid claimed Stacy had “wrecked” his dad’s life, and while we don’t know exactly what Stacy did, we did just see him ingratiating himself with a very drunk local business owner in a way that seemed pretty nefarious. Stacy told the man he knows studio musicians in LA, and could help get the guy’s music recorded, which — considering what we now know of Jeff’s passions — seems like a scam Jeff may have fallen for as well. What if Stacy Crystals is a con man who convinces rich guys to invest in fake businesses with him, all the while promising to help them launch their artistic endeavors?

That would mean that Jeff may potentially be a victim, not a mastermind. And considering we also now know that Jeff, like Ron, is sensitive to having his ego bruised — he did not like it when everyone thought Ron had beaten him up! — it isn’t hard to imagine him falling for flattery and getting in over his head. Of course, Jeff isn’t just Ron’s boss — he’s Amanda’s boss too, so maybe there’s more to his involvement in the chair incident than meets the eye. We’ll have to wait until next season to find out.

What about the guy in Mike’s tub?

Oh yeah, that guy! Remember last week when Ron asked Mike to tail the corrupt mayor? Mike saw this guy talking to the mayor, trying to convince him to leave the bar to go to his hot tub. Ron told Mike to figure out a way to keep the mayor from leaving before Ron arrived, only Ron never showed (thanks to his confrontation with Alice Quintana). But it sure seems like Mike decided the best way to keep the mayor from leaving early was to kidnap Hot Tub Guy and, uh, chain him to a tub!

On the surface, this incident reinforces the other revelations about Mike in the finale - that he’s a delusional stalker with restraining orders out against him. There’s a chance that the biggest threat to Ron’s family has been the person Ron chose to work with all along. Or maybe, like everything else in this show, Mike has layers. He’s a delusional stalker and he’s just trying to do the right thing! I mean, sure, the kidnapping thing looks bad, but I’m betting next season we find out that Tub Guy has some important information about the conspiracy to share.

Anything else we should know?

Not really. Seth is quitting basketball and wants to go to RISD to study stop-motion animation, which is an absolutely adorable way to really dial up the financial strain on Ron and Barb. Meanwhile, Natalie’s girlfriend got mad at her for telling Ron about “Wendy’s Carvers,” the fast-food chain’s upcoming boutique ham-centric enterprise, which is maybe the best joke of the whole season. Did I Google it just to see if it was a real thing? Sure did. Is it? Nope, although Google’s AI has already been fooled by a few funny Instagram posts about it.

And then there’s Doug, in his unnecessary wheelchair, trying to save Ron’s job by recommending they demote him three or four or five pegs. For absolutely no reason other than “general vibes,” my money is on Doug as the culprit of the chair incident. Dude ain’t right.

Of course, that’s even if there is a culprit at all. I’ll admit, I was flummoxed by The Chair Company all season long. It should have been entirely my bag — a chaotic, weirdo mystery-comedy — but I often struggled to grasp what the show was trying to do. Heck, I rarely even laughed! My expectation that it would be a long-form vehicle for a classic Tim Robinson meltdown was mostly dashed; his Ron may have lost his job, but he never lost his family or our sympathy. Instead, the characters and events surrounding him were often more unreasonable and bizarre than he ever was. As a mystery, it was hard to keep track of the various leads and reveals, because they were only ever tangible to Ron’s desperate mind anyway. I think that’s the point, though. Even this finale, which offered us plenty of answers, underscored how unreliable any hint of a conclusion might be while reinforcing that yes, Something Fishy Definitely Is Going On Here. Ron wasn’t the only one who dove headfirst down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. We jumped in right alongside him, and now I’m doubting everything I see.

So maybe The Chair Company isn’t that much of a comedy, but as an exercise in paranoia and delusion? It has rewired my brain. Of course the show is coming back for another season! Even if it had reached a conclusion that tied everything up neatly in last night’s finale, I still wouldn’t have believed it. And neither would Ron.